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CONSERVATION GROUPS’ COMMENTS <br />UNCOMPAHGRE FIELD OFFICE RMP AND DEIS <br />i <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />November 1, 2016 <br /> <br />Sent via e-mail (comments only) and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested (comments and <br />exhibits) <br /> <br />Project Manager, Uncompahgre RMP <br />Bureau of Land Management <br />Uncompahgre Field Office <br />2465 South Townsend Ave. <br />Montrose, CO 81401 <br />Email: uformp@blm.gov <br /> <br />Re: Comments on the Uncompahgre Field Office’s Draft Resource Management Plan <br />and Environmental Impact Statement <br /> <br />Dear Uncompahgre RMP Project Manager: <br /> <br />The Western Environmental Law Center, along with Citizens for a Healthy Community, <br />Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, and Wilderness <br />Workshop (together “Conservation Groups”), submit the following comments regarding the <br />Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) Uncompahgre Field Office (“UFO”) Draft Resource <br />Management Plan (“Draft RMP”) and Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”). The <br />Uncompahgre RMP planning area includes 3,097,460 acres of federal, private, state, and city <br />land in Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel Counties in southwestern <br />Colorado. The Uncompahgre RMP planning area covers about 675,800 acres of BLM- <br />administered public lands—including portions of the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area and <br />four river systems (the Gunnison, San Miguel, Dolores, and Uncompahgre)—and 971,220 acres <br />of federal subsurface mineral estate. <br /> <br />Conservation Groups have participated in the planning process for the UFO RMP— <br />specifically by submitting two supplemental information letters with the BLM, on October 23, <br />2012 and February 3, 2014, both of which are incorporated herein by this reference—and have <br />interests that are adversely affected by planning decisions made in the EIS. See 43 C.F.R. § <br />1610.5-2. Conservation Group, Citizens for a Healthy Community (“CHC”), also participated in <br />the collaborative effort developing the North Fork Alternative Plan (“NFAP”), which was <br />submitted to BLM on December 2, 2013 and included as BLM Alternative B.1. Moreover, <br />Conservation Groups contracted with air resources expert, Megan Williams, who submitted <br />comments on the Bull Mountain Master Development Plan on April 14, 2015 [hereinafter